Paint-remover and process of making the same.



prising an aqueous PETER T. AUSTEN AND FREDERICK J. MAYWALD, OF NEW YORK N.

Pi-llllT-REMOVER AND PROCESS OF MAKHJGT THE QBfilltlfi.

i season.

Specification of Letters Patent.

atented March 5, 196?.

Application filed November 26,1906. Serial Ho. 345,165.

1'0 all Hill/I777, it iii/my concern: I

Be it known that we, PETER T. Ausrnu, a citir n of the United States, residing in the city or New York, borough of Manhattan, county of New York, and State of New York, and FREDERICK J. MAYWALD, a citizen'of the United States, residing in the city of New York, borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and State of New York, have invented a cer- ,tain new and useful Paint-Remover and Process of Making the Same; and we do hereby declare the following to he a full, clear, and exact description of the same, such will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and -use the same.

This invention relates to. and processes of making the sists in a paint and varnish.

paint removers same, and conremover conisolution carrying suspended therein in a finely-divided state various volatile solvents or mixtures of the same adapted to soften and remove paint and varnish, and in the process of making such a remover, all as more fully hereinafter set forth and as claimed.

Most modern types of paint and varnish removers contain and depend for their action upon certain neutral volatile solvents-such as alcohol, Wood spirit, acetone, benzol, benzinc. various light tar-oils, and the like. Older types of removers containing caustic alkali or other powerful chemicals in practice have proved unsatisfactory as being injurious both to the surface from which the paint or varnish is to be removed and to the operators hands. Such removers are no longer generally employed. Volatile solvcnts such as described of course evaporate quickly in the air when spread in thin layers on painted surfaces and are moreover so thinly liquid that they flow off vertical or inclined surfaces. For this reason inthe modern removers employing volatile solvents more or less wax or grease is usually incorporated, partly to thicken them somewhat and better adapt them to remain on nonhorizontal surfaces, partly to furnish an evaporation-retarding superficial scum, and partly to retard evaporation by lessening the vapor tension of these volatile solvents. Nearly all the volatile solvents in. use for removing paint and varnish are bodies of relatively high vapor tension; but in the de scribed mixture the presence of the wax or l l i I l l l l grease in solution or suspension, or both, tends to cut down this vapor tension inaterially. in these thickened removers there is frequently enough of the wax or grease to render the body of admixed volatile solvents rather thick, and as the paint and varnish constituents which it dissolves in use are not freely diflusible the activity of such a body is, as a rule, confined to the layer of remover in actual contact with the varnish which is being dissolved. Volatile solvents being all relatively expensive, this is evidentl r un economical. Further, old paint and varnish being as a rule rather dirty, Wetting of its surface by such removers is not as quick an d thorough as is desirable, the admixed greasy or waxy inattertending to restrain wetting.

course the wax or grease in solution in the volatile solvents diminislles materially the capacity of such volatile solvents for disso ving paint and varnish. constituents.

In the present invention we have devised a new type of paint and varnish remover and a process of preparing the same. lnstead of restraining evaporation of volatile solvents by the chemical and physical action of waxy or greasy matter we restrain va oration in another manner. The volatile solvent or mixture of solvents is finely subdivided and each minute droplet is given a watery jacketing-coating. This we accomplish by beating the volatile-solvents with an aqueous carrier, thereby forming an emulsion. The aqueous carrier may be a water solution of any sub stance having the power of producing a permanent watery emulsion with immiscible solvents, and preferably this substance is of an albumenoid or proteid nature.

Proteids and other bodies capable of. pro ducing permanent emulsions of hydro c ar hens andlike bodies with water do not, as a rule, dissolve in such bodies or in the volatile solvents used in paint-removers, and solvents emulsified by proteid solutions retain their full solvent capacity. The aqueous layer which surrounds each individual droplet of the volatile solvent prevents its contact with air, and therefore "prevents evaporation. It does not, however, prevent its contact with paint or varnished surfaces. The same power of-- thoroughly wetting oily bodies which enable such an aqueous solution to emulsify volatile solvents, many of wl'iich are hydrocarbons and more or less oily in nature,

up or otherwise emulsifying,

are insoluble in water and are not wetted by pure water, enables it also to a painted or varnished surface and to penetrate the same effectually. By reason of sur face tension phenomena an albumenoid solution which of itself may be quite fluid and the various volatile solvents most of which are very mobile when emulsified together produce a mixture which, while liquid and fiowable and not ordinarily thicker than rich milk or cream, has a considerable degree of consistence, and which ,is well adapted to remain on vertical or inclined surfaces. There is, however, insuch a body of emulsion con siderable internal movement of the suspended droplets of volatile solvent in the milky or creamy thickness usually employed, and the painted surface to be cleaned is continually exposed to the attack offresh droplets of the solvent.

The aqueous carrier used may be a water solution of any body having the power of forming a permanent emulsion with waterimmiscible solvents, such as are most of the common paint and varnish solvents. Serum albumen, commercial egg albumen, or even gelatin do very well. Solutions of any of" these proteids are improved for this purpose by the presence of the colloidal carbohydrates, such as those found n Irish moss or aganagar. Chinese gelatin, w hic h is nearly related to agar agar, is quite suitable. Alkaline :aseinates which in water solution have some paint-softening power, particularly in the case of ammonium caseinate, are best used in connection with these colloidal carbohydrates. ammonium caseinate and Chinese gelatin forms a very good aqueous emulsifier for this purpose. As stated, ammonium cascinate itself acts on paint aud varnish; but it is not caustic and is not injurious to t he hands oi' an opt-rater, as was the case with the older typeset paintreniover in which caustic alkalies were used. No caustic alkalies, caustic substances like phenol, or other corrosive bodies are used in the present ren'iovor, and it is also free of tree acids.

For the 'olatile-solvent comi'ionent olthe remover any of the well-known volatile solvents usually employed in removing paint and varnish may be here used as, 't'or inwet thoroughly A mixed solution of stance, benz l, bcnzine, "methyl acetone,

acetone, methyl alcohol, ct oil, ethyl acetate, methyl acetate, toluol. xylol, acetone-oils, tar-oils, wood-tar oils, rosin-oil,rosin spirit, lichlorhydrin, epichlorhydrin, -arbon tetrachlorid, chloroform, dc odorized carbon hisul'l'id, turpentine, and the like.

may be employed in connect ion with the described cmulsi'tving aqueous carriers, the particular choice of such solvent depending upon the type of. paint or varnish on which the rehyl alcohol 'l'usel-- mover is to be employed. While in older types of paint-removers, consisting of a mixture of solvents containing more or less wax or grease, it was necessary that these solvents be mutually miscible, this necessity does not exist with the present remover. In such older paint-removers alcoholic bodies are generally used as one component and not being miscible with most petroleum hydrocarbons em.- ployment of the latter in the removers was precluded. 'In the present remover, however, petroleum hydrocarbons, which have many desirable properties adapting them for 'use in paint-removers, may be freely em ployed. Petroleum hydrocarbons being rel atively cheap, such employment materially cheapens the cost of the remover.

For general purposes it is usually desirable to have several volatile solvents of varying characteristics in the remover. A useful remover for general purposes may be made by emulsifying methyl alcohol, 62, benzine, benzol, and acetone with a compound emulsifier containing ammonium caseinate and Chinese gelatin. For this purpose an ammoniacal solution of casein is made by dissolving eighty grams of commercial casein in seventy-live grams of 26 water of ammonia and one hundred and forty-five grams of water-three hundred grams in all. grams of this solution are mixed with fifty grams of a iive-per-cent. aqueous solution of (hinese gelatin. \Vith the one hundred grams of aqueous emulsifier so formed are thoroughly admixed and emulsified forty grams of methyl alcohol, forty grams of 52 benzene, eighty grams of benzol, and eighty grams of acetone. 'lhese volatile solvents may he lirst mixed and then emulsified with the emulsifier, or they may be added successively during emulsi'tication. Another 1nixture oi general amilicationmay be made from the same quantities of the same solvents thoroughly. emulsified with one hundred grams of ttni-per-eent. serum or egg-albumen solution or with. one hundred grams otativw per-cent. gelatii'i solution. More or oi a colloidal carln hydrnte-sucli as agar-agar .l rishmoss, or Ch inese gelatin-army he adv tageously used these proteid solutions as contributing to the permruiency oi the emulsions 'l'orn'ied l t1: volat ile solvents.

Proteid. solutions have a peculiar relat' to oily and other water-immiscible llu tending to mix with them in rather dcfini proportions. This is 'mrticularly triu) oi" casein solutions, and in the use of the an. no-

' niacal-casein solution mentioned on standing z the emulsion will generally be found to reject Any or all of the ahovcaian'ied solvents Fifty Ill;

"tend. to run E tic scones A good remover for many purposes may be made by emulsifying two hundred and forty grams of a mixture oi benzol and ordinary wood spirit with one hundred grams of any of the aqueouscarriers described. Halt or more oi the'benzol may be replaced by gasolens or bonzine.

in the described remover it is desirable that the consistence be about that of rich milk or cream, is the case With the specific examples with specific proportions given as permitting ready application to surfaces to be cleaned, making the remover liquid and lloivable without making it so mobile as to off. Such a consistence is given i the stated. proportions, an emulsion being produced which. is liquid. and lion able, but as a body not mobile, though consisting of mobile components and though having the de SCl'lbQd internal 1uobility which permits full utilization of the solvent power of the conl ained droplets of solvent. It is of course desirable to have as much solvent present as possible; but the amount must not he so large as to render the composition too still and im- As in the examples cited, however,-

mobile. the amount of volatile solvents employed can be more than half the total mixturewithout making the consistence injuriously still.

What We claim is l. A paint-remover comprising a fluid emulsion of a mixture of a plurality of volatile solvents of diill'ering cl and having substantially unimpaired solvent power 1n an aqueous carrier, said emulsion being creamy in character, fluid and flowable, *ree from caustic or corrosive components or free acids and consisting in greater part of said volatile solvents.

2. A paint-remover comprising a fluid emulsion of a n'iixturc oi a plurality of vola tile solvents of in an a ueous carrier containing a dissolved protoid body, said emulsion being creamy in character, iluid and fiowahlc, free from causor corrosive coinpoiunits or free acids and cor *isting in greater part of said volatile sol.- vents.

ll. it. paintqemover comprising a fluid mnulsion of a mixture of a plurality of volatile solvents of differing chemical character in an aqueous carrier containing a-di'ssolved pr tcid body and o colloidal carbohydrate, said emulsion being creamy in character, lluid and llowable, free from caustic com ponents and consisting in greater part of said volatile solvents.

.41 eruulsitm of a mixture oif'a plurality: of volatile solvents of littering chemical character 1n. an aqueous carrier containing a dissolved casemate, said emulsion being creamy in character, lluid and iiownble, free from caustic components consisting in greater part of said volatile solvents.

'ienncal character differing chemical characten 5. A pnint-rcmover comprising a linid emulsion of a plurality of volatile solvents cl dillering chemical character in an aqueous carrier containing dissolved ammonium cascinate, said emulsion being creamy in character, llowable, free from caustic components andconsisting in greater part oi said-volatih solvents.

(i. A paint-remover comprising a fluid emulsion of a mixture of volatile solvents in an aqueous carrier containing a dissolved caseinate and a colloidal carlmhydrate, said on'nilsion being creamy and l-lowablc.

paint-remover comprising a lluid emulsion of a mixture of volatile solvents in an aqueous carrier ccmtaining dissolved ainmoniuin caseinatc and a colloidal carbohydrate, said emulsion luring creamy and Howable.

8. A paint-remm'er comprising a fluid emulsion of a mixture ol volatile solvents in an aqueous carrier containing dissolved ammonium CilSGllllttO and Chinese gelatin.

9. A paint--romovcr conlprising a fluid emulsion oi a m ixturc cl a. plurality oi volati'lc solvents of (lifl'ering chemical character but comprising a petroleun'i hydrocarbon, and having so hstantially unimpaired solvent poyvor in an aqueous carrier, said emulsion being creamy in character, llovvablc, free from caustic or corrosive mnnponents or free acids and consisting in greater part of said volatile solvents.-

10. The process of making a paint-remover Which consists in mixing a plurality of differing volatile solvents having substantially unimpeirciil solvent power and cm'ulsi lying such mixture in an all alincaqueous carrier in such proportions as to make a fluid creamy emulsion consisting in greater part of said volatile solvents. I

11. The process of making a paintwomover which consists in mixing a phu'ality of differing volatile solvents having substantially unimpaired solvent power and emulsifying such mixture in an alkaline aqueous earner coi'ltaining a dissolved proteid body in such proportions as to make a lluid creamy emulsion consisting in greater part of said volatile solvents.

The process of making a paint-rcmover which consists in mixing a plurality of diilering volatile solvents and emulsifying 'the mixture in an aqueous carrlcr containing UP to IOL'.

14. The process of making a paint-re- 1 "In testimony wliereof We afiix our signamover which consists in mixing a plurality of tures in the presence of two Witnesses. 10

differing volatile solvents and emulsif in T the mixture in an aqueous carrier contaiiiing ALD a dissolved roteid and a colloidal carbohy- I i drate in suc 1 proportions as to make a fluid a Witnesses:

creamy emulsion consisting in greater part of i H. M. MARBLE,

said volatile solvents. ROGER H. LYON. 

